In 1964, Apted worked as a researcher on a new experimental television series called Seven UP, which explored the Jesuit maxim "Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man." The original concept was to interview 14 children with diverse backgrounds from all over England. By asking the children about their lives and their dreams for the future, differences in attitudes and opportunity were witnessed. For almost a half century, Apted has interviewed the original group every seven years, examining the progression of their lives. Now they are 56. From cab driver Tony, to schoolmates Jackie, Lynn and Susan and the iconoclast Neil, the present age brings more life-changing decisions and surprising developments. From success and disappointment, marriage and childbirth, to poverty and illness, nearly every facet of life is discussed with the group, as they assess whether their lives have ultimately been ruled by circumstance or self-determination.

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This film is presented at Stateside at the Paramount in HD digital presentation on Blu-ray.

Stateside at the Paramount is proud to kick off its Stateside Independent series with the Texas Premiere of 56 UP, the latest in a series of groundbreaking documentaries from director Michael Apted.

Offering an extraordinary look at the unfolding of lives, The UP Series has been called “an inspired, almost noble use of the film medium” by renowned film critic Roger Ebert, who considers the series to be among the greatest films ever made.

In 1964, Apted worked as a researcher on a new experimental television series called Seven UP, which explored the Jesuit maxim “Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man.” The original concept was to interview 14 children with diverse backgrounds from all over England. By asking the children about their lives and their dreams for the future, differences in attitudes and opportunity were witnessed. For almost a half century, Apted has interviewed the original group every seven years, examining the progression of their lives.

Now they are 56. From cab driver Tony, to schoolmates Jackie, Lynn and Susan and the iconoclast Neil, the present age brings more life-changing decisions and surprising developments. From success and disappointment, marriage and childbirth, to poverty and illness, nearly every facet of life is discussed with the group, as they assess whether their lives have ultimately been ruled by circumstance or self-determination.

Follow along with our Film Programmer Stephen Jannise on the Paramount Film Institute blog as he recaps each film in the series in anticipation of 56 UP.

Critics are praising 56 UP:

- “Critics’ Pick! Remarkable, poignant, fascinating. An analogous project in print or even still photographs wouldn’t be as powerful, because what gives the “Up” series its punch is not so much its longevity or the human spectacle it offers, but that these are moving images of touchingly vibrant lives at certain moments in time and space. The more you watch, the more the movies transform from mirrors into memory machines, ones that inevitably summon reflections of your own life."

- “Grade: A! Awe-inducing. Apted has created a series of films as profound as they are straightforward: here is a chronicle of real human souls evolving in real time, a longitudinal study unique to the medium of moving images — and a documentary masterpiece. With each passing calendar leap, the experience of watching has only become more soul-stirring. ”

- “This is a series about us as much as it is a series about the individual fates of the children…It insists that we care, deeply, as we watch Apted and his subjects grow up, and as we follow them down.”

- “Critics’ Pick! The Up series will have to go down in history as one of the more touching and ambitious cinematic and televisual experiments of our — or anyone else’s — time.”

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